Many students take a leave of absence—either academic or
non-academic—at some point during the undergraduate career. Some take a leave to work or travel or to be
at home with family. Others enroll at
another college or university to experience a different campus environment or
to take courses not offered at Wesleyan.
Whatever reasons you may have for taking a leave, the more thought and you
put in to planning your leave, the better use you will make of your time away, and
the more smoothly your transition back to campus life will go.

Planning your Leave

If you have been thinking about taking a leave absence, you
should first make an appointment to meet with your class dean to discuss your
needs and goals. Your dean will help you
determine whether an academic or non-academic leave is best for you, and will
also help you determine the duration of your leave and whether it will be
necessary modify your expected graduation term or class year standing to
accommodate your time away.

A leave of absence may be one or two semesters in
length. You may extend (or shorten) your
leave while you are away, however a leave of absence may be no longer than four
consecutive semesters in length. Your
Wesleyan email account and e-Portfolio access will remain active during your
leave.

In addition to meeting with your class dean, you should also
consult with your faculty advisor to get a sense of how your leave may affect
your academic plans. Sometimes, taking a
leave of absence may lead to missing a required course for your major, or it
may mean that your advisor will be going on sabbatical when you are gone. In most cases, potential academic snags like
these can be readily addressed with foresight and planning.

Whether on an academic or non-academic leave, it is possible
to take courses at another college or university and transfer the credit back
to Wesleyan. To do this, it is necessary
to obtain permission from the appropriate academic department at Wesleyan. While it is possible to obtain this
permission after you have left campus, it’s a lot easier to obtain approval
while you’re still here. During the
academic year, transfer credit can be obtained only from a domestic college or
university; Wesleyan will not grant
permission to transfer credit from a study abroad program or from a
non-domestic college or university during the academic year (permission may be
granted for these programs if they take place over the summer).

Before you leave campus, you should also check in with the
Office of Residential Life and, if appropriate, the Office of Financial Aid to
let them know about your plans. ResLife
will let you know what you need to do about moving your belongs out of your
room, returning your key, and making arrangements to participate in the General
Room Selection process while you are away. If you are a financial aid recipient
or have taken out loans, the Office of Financial Aid will be able to answer
your questions about repayment or about how to submit next year’s financial aid
application if you will be away from campus when the application is due.